


Falling For You In A Flash

by thusspokebianca



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Dansen - Freeform, F/F, Fluff, Friends references, Friends to Lovers, Game Night, Kara ships it, Mutual Pining, Neighbors, Romantic Comedy, Shenanigans, Useless Lesbians, WestOlsen friendship, oblivious idiots, westallen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25526434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thusspokebianca/pseuds/thusspokebianca
Summary: While Alex and Kelly are plotting romantic dates for their friends, Barry and Iris, they begin falling for each other.
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Barry Allen & Alex Danvers, Kelly Olsen & Iris West
Comments: 22
Kudos: 44
Collections: #DansenFicWeek - July/August 2020





	Falling For You In A Flash

**Author's Note:**

> Theme: Neighbors AU; Prompt: "How did you know?"
> 
> Alex's and Kelly's POV.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Feedback is always appreciated :)

“Okay, this is last one” Alex huffed, carrying a cardboard box marked ‘books’ up the third flight of the apartment building where Barry and Cisco had seemingly gotten stuck carrying their new double sofa.

“Great.” Barry replied, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He furrowed his eyebrows, concentrating hard to maneuver the furniture up the narrow staircase. “Cisco, you have to pivot. Pivot!”

“I’m trying! Okay?” He grunted.

“You have to pivot, Cisco.” Alex parroted, earning herself a dirty look.

“Why would you move into a building without an elevator?”

“It’s only three blocks away from the lab, it’s charming, and rent controlled, and…”

“Well…it sucks.” Cisco cut Barry off. He gathered all his strength for one final shove up the stairs.

“That wasn’t so hard.” Barry chuckled, fumbling for the apartment keys. Cisco let out a string of curses to let him know just how much he disagreed.

Cisco continued his rant. “I can’t believe I was the only one to show up. I thought your sister was freakishly strong.”

“Well, Kara’s on an assignment, reporting about that vigilante in Gotham. Plus, she’s a super klutz and I don’t want her anywhere near my stuff. When she ‘helped’ me move into my studio in Stanford she managed to break all my dishes because she was startled by a bug. Do you know how depressing it is to use solo cups for beer, wine and your cereal?”

“Well,” Cisco started with a pleading expression, “if you don’t need me anymore, I’ll be heading home.”

“You sure? We could order pizza?” Barry suggested.

“Nah, I’m good.” Cisco turned to walk down the stairs. “Ugh, sorry.” He stuttered as he almost ran into the beautiful dark-skinned woman jogging up the stairs, a low beat coming from her earphones casually resting around her neck.

Barry froze, his jaw slacked. Alex’s eyes flicked back and forth between him and their new neighbor. As the woman unlocked the door, her friend stammered, “I…I…”

Alex cleared her throat more loudly than necessary to get her attention. Her soft brown eyes scanned the hallway, then Alex, then Barry. Barry quickly averted his gaze and studied the pattern on the hallway floor. Really? He was going to act like a lovestruck high schooler? Alex rolled her eyes at him and walked over with a smile and an outstretched hand.

“Hi, I’m Alex, this is Barry, we’re your new neighbors. 4B.” She gestured to the door behind them.

“Barry Allen,” the woman grinned, tilting her head. “I haven’t seen you since middle school. You haven’t changed one bit. Except,” she studied him for a moment, looking him up and down with a spark of mischief, “you’re finally taller than me.”

“H…hi Iris,” Barry breathed quietly, a faint blush coloring his cheeks.

***

Kelly walked into the apartment, closed the door and leaned against it. She closed her eyes and let out a deep exhale, letting the tension and stress from work subside. When her eyes fluttered open again, she spotted Iris snuggled up on the couch in her Central City University sweatpants. She hadn’t even noticed her and was hyper focused on the screen of her phone in one hand and swirling a glass of red wine in the other. An open bottle and a second empty glass stood invitingly on the coffee table. Kelly had never been so grateful. She kicked off her heels, dropped her purse and walked over the couch and slumped down next to her roommate. She leaned in for a hug. “You’re the best. I don’t deserve you.”

“Damn right.” Iris replied, her eyes still glued to the small screen.

Kelly poured herself a glass of wine and leaned back into the soft pillows exhaling deeply once more. Iris looked up from her phone, studying Kelly’s face. “Tough day?”

Kelly pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ugh, where do I start?” She paused to think and take a sip of wine. “I tried to explain to Andrea for the sixth time, that if we want this project to launch in time and to make sure it’s safe, we need to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, so that test subjects would experience less--”

“So, I met our new neighbors.” Iris interrupted her mid-explanation with an unreadable expression on face.

“What?” The abrupt change of topic startled Kelly.

“Our new neighbors. The ones in 4b. I met them today as they were moving in.”

“Oh.”

“Mhm.” Iris confirmed, taking a large sip of wine.

“So?”

“One of them was my boyfriend in middle school.”

“Oh,” Kelly’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. She took a sip of wine herself. Iris’ fidgeting meant there was a longer story and Kelly was an excellent listener, and really, she appreciated anything that would take her mind off work or her lack of a life outside of work.

“Well, not boyfriend. A boy, who was my friend. Best friend. We grew up together and he was almost like a brother--” Kelly didn’t say anything, but her face must’ve betrayed her, because Iris immediately corrected herself. “Eww, no. Not like that! I meant, um, we just had this deep connection, like you feel it in your blood, your soul, but…. I don’t know.” Iris interrupted her rambling and took another sip of wine.

Kelly didn’t say the word ‘soulmate’, she didn’t think Iris believed in it and she wasn’t sure she did either. How ridiculous and sad would it be if there was only one person and if that person was gone, so was any chance at true happiness. She sipped her wine to banish the memories that emerged and forced them back into the depths of her mind.

“So, what happened?” Kelly calmly urged.

“He moved away, and we kinda lost touch, but now he’s back. Here in this city. In this very building. Next door and…is this weird?”

“Well,” Kelly started with a mocking smile but then her face softened, “I don’t think it’s weird, but you officially lost all your cool points. Turns out Iris West is just as useless when it comes to matters of the heart as the rest of us mere mortals.”

“Oh, hush.”

They sat for a moment, quietly contemplating. Then Kelly spoke up again.

“So, what? Does he have a girlfriend now or who did he move in with?”

“A friend. Alex called Barry her friend.”

“Who?”

At that Iris held up her phone to Kelly showing her a picture captioned #Pride2019. It showed three women, one brunette with extravagant eye makeup and a trans flag painted on her lips, a blonde with glasses a smile as bright as the sun, and a redhead, with an undercut, a sharp jawline and hazel eyes, all three of them wrapped in a rainbow flag. Kelly’s mouth suddenly felt very dry. She swallowed and pushed the phone away. “You’re such a stalker.”

“I’m a journalist, this is research.”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. Research for what exactly?”

“Well, for one, I gotta look out for us and make sure our neighbors aren’t axe murderers and secondly, they invited us to game night on Friday, so…” Iris looked up sheepishly, “you better be on top of your Pictionary and Charades game, I’m not losing to some nerds.”

***

“Danvers Sisters yes we can, if you can’t do it Danvers can.” Alex and Kara chanted after winning their third consecutive round of taboo, while the others rolled their eyes and the two newcomers from next door exchanged bewildered looks.

“I hate it here,” Nia begrudgingly slammed her remaining cards on the coffee table and reached for the last slice of pepperoni pizza.

“Is that jealousy, I detect?” Kara smirked, taking a huge bite of pineapple pizza. Nia made a gaging sound. “At you two idiots sharing one braincell? Not really. I rather have a sister I don’t talk to than one I’m embarrassing with.”

“How about a different game, then?” Brainy suggested, trying to defuse the situation by also rubbing reassuring circles on Nia’s back.

“Clue!” Kara yelled and Iris enthusiastically nodded.

“No, you always cheat!” Barry and Cisco complained.

“It’s called having a journalistic instinct, look it up.” Kara replied smugly.

“No, they’re right, you cheat. I don’t know how, but you do.” Alex accused.

“Yeah sure, I can see what’s on the solution card through the envelop, because I have x-ray vision. You exposed my secret. Oh no.” Kara said sarcastically. She leaned back and crossed her arms.

“Cards Against Humanity”, Nia threw in.

“We can’t play that with the puppy here,” Alex indicated at Kara and received a pout in return. “Exactly my point.”

“How about Mafia?” Iris’ roommate Kelly, a beautiful woman with dark skin, the warmest eyes Alex had ever seen and silky dark brown hair that fell in waves around her shoulders, suggested.

“No, Kel, no psychoanalyzing our new friends on the first date.” Iris chuckled.

“It’s a game of social deduction, picking up on subtle details like body language, changes in speech pattern and voice pitch. That has nothing to do with psychoanalysis.” Kelly explained calmly.

“I don’t think we’re enough people for Mafia though,” Alex considered looking around their small group. “Maybe next time when J’onn, Lena and Sam can join us again.”

“Please no, it always ends in a screaming match and the last time we played, Mike stormed off, and—”

“And we never saw that sour loser again and all our lives changed for the better. The end.” Alex finished Kara’s sentence with no uncertain amount of glee, toasting to Brainy.

“You suck.” Kara flipped her off.

“That’s what siblings are for.” Alex grinned. Kelly smiled as if in agreement and Alex felt a sudden warmth creeping up her neck and quickly averted her eyes.

“Well, if we can’t agree on a different game, why don’t we stick to taboo, but mix up the teams? No sibling alliances, no couples, no roommates, no coworkers.”

“Okay, I pick Barry.” Kara announced happily, doing a little dance in her seat.

“No!” Alex objected a little louder than intended. “No, um—” Alex’s mind was racing.

She wished that telepathy was real so she could silently convey to her oblivious little sister that Barry couldn’t keep his eyes of Iris the whole time, that Iris kept smiling at him too, that they would be cute together and therefore should team up for this next round, maybe date and then get married, all in due time, of course. And that it was basically her duty as Barry’s friend and unofficial wing woman, to make sure this all worked out, damnit.

Kara snapped her fingers in front of her eyes and Alex realized she still had to provide an explanation for her objection. “No sibling alliances, no couples, no roommates, no coworkers AND no Superfriends.” She declared smugly. Kara cursed under her breath but had to yield.

”Okay, listen up.” Alex stretched and leaned forward in her chair and in her best commander voice - honed through years of having a younger sibling, being captain of the soccer team all through middle school and being a TA during grad school - she assigned the new teams. “Barry teams up with Iris. Kara, you’re with Brainy this round. And then it’s Nia and Cisco, and Kelly and me on the two other teams.” Everyone looked at her in awe and a bit of fear, then faced their new teammates, not daring to object.

Pleased with herself, Alex sipped at her bottle of – by now – lukewarm beer. She immediately regretted everything.

Kara and Brainy started the round. Their awkward interaction amounted to a lot of giggling, but only four meager points and humiliation for their team. Barry and Iris were up next. Iris seemed determined, but despite her best efforts, Barry tanked. He stared at Iris with big puppy eyes, and it needed a kick against his shin from Alex, to get him to focus. They ended up getting respectable six points, mostly because both of them still remembered corny little inside jokes they made in middle school. It was ridiculous and adorable.

Alex and Kelly went next. They had only exchanged a few words so far, but they worked together like a well-oiled machine. Kelly correctly guessed all the words almost instantly and they got an incredible nine points.

“No way this is the first time you met.” Nia arched her right eyebrow and looking them up and down suggestively.

“Um, no, um—” Alex stutterd. She internally berated herself. _What the hell was happening? Get your shit together, Danvers. You’re a badass, you don’t stutter in front of pretty girls – anymore. Did anyone turn up the AC? Damn, it’s hot in here._

Kelly just beamed and reached over and put her hand on Alex’s arm. The touch instantly calmed Alex. Where she was fire, Kelly was water. A gentle soothing strength. Alex felt at peace. _Wow._

Despite their nine points, Nia and Cisco stole the win with a perfect round and unbelievable ten points. Alex should probably have predicted that the two biggest pop culture nerds would absolutely obliterate them. She made a mental note to never ever, let them team-up again.

“Call me ‘Meme Supreme’.” Nia demanded, as she did a little victory ‘tiktok dance’, whatever in the world that meant.

“No, I request a rematch.” Alex huffed.

“Aren’t you tired of being second best?” Nia’s smug grin grew wider the angrier Alex got. How did she end up with two annoying little sisters? “Maybe another time. It’s kinda late.” Nia yawned to emphasize her point.

“Do you need us to help clean up?” Brainy asked.

“Nah, it’s fine.” Alex looked around the empty pizza boxes and beer bottles, “But, um, Kara, can you stay for a bit? I wanted to ask you something.”

When all their friends, old and new, had left, Kara joined Alex in her room. Barry had graciously agreed to cleaning up the remains of their first game night by himself.

“So what’s up, sis?” Kara asked plopping down on Alex’s bed.

“Okay, so Barry and Iris--” Alex started but was immediately cut off by Kara scream whispering.

“Oh. My. God. They are totally made for each other and will get married and have the cutest kids. I know endgame when I see it.”

Alex was perplexed. “Wait, so—”

“Yeah, it was kinda obvious.” Kara added.

“I think they may need a little push in the right direction.”

“And you think you’re the right person to play cupid?”

Alex found Kara’s lack of faith in her disturbing. “Look who’s talking, Miss I-date-every-guy-I-meet.” She snarled.

“Hey!” Kara whelped at the burn. “Well, anyway. If you wanna play wing-woman, go for it. I don’t think even you can mess this up. Maybe ask Kelly to help, too.”

“Kelly?” Alex asked startled.

“Yeah,” Kara paused and tilted her head. “I mean, she’s Iris’ friend and you guys made a great team.” She winked.

“Really?”

“Definitely!”

***

“So, what do we think?” Iris stretched the questions, once they were back in their apartment. “I mean, we didn’t get axe murdered.”

“Yet.” Kelly replied with a smirk.

“And it was fun, right?”

“It was,” Kelly nodded in agreement, but then considered for a few moments. “But these people seriously need therapy. Like, all of them.” She shook her head. “Social anxiety, codependency, anger issues, alcoholism, cynicism to cover up trauma—"

“I said no psychoanalyzing our new friends, Kelly.” Iris chuckled.

“Sorry, I can’t help it.” Kelly yawned and walked over to her room and leaned against the door frame. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re a hot mess too, but I still love you. Good night.”

“Night, you goober.” Iris called after her.

***

Kelly spent Monday morning in her bright Obsidian North office studying the list of the latest test results, when her phone vibrated with a message from Iris.

 **Iris:** Hey, it’s okay that I gave Alex your number, right? ;)

 **Kelly:** What

 **Kelly:** Why

 **Kelly:** Iris

The three dots on the bottom of the screen disappeared, then reappeared.

 **Iris:** When the hot lesbian next door asks you out on a date, please say yes. Yes, I do. And maybe don’t call her an angry alcoholic to her face, at least not before you u-haul and get married in Vegas. Be nice and you might have some fun. You deserve some fun.

 **Kelly:** DSKSKASDS

 **Kelly:** IRIS WEST!!!

Before she could type a message with the right amount of profanities and threats, her phone rang with an unknown number. “Shit!” Kelly swore and almost spilled her coffee over the spread-out sheets of paper on her desk. She took a deep breath.

“Hello, this is Doctor Kelly Olsen.”

There was an awkward silence. Then Alex cleared her throat.

“Hi, um, this is Doctor Alexandra Danvers, um Alex, Iris gave me your number. This is Kelly, right?” Alex’s voice sounded about two octaves higher than a few days ago.

“Yes, this is her.”

“I hope this isn’t weird.”

“What? No, it’s fine, this is fine. It’s fine—” Kelly bit her lips to stop the rambling.

“Okay, cool. I was wondering if we could meet up for coffee and talk, about—”

“Yeah?”

“Um, Iris.” Alex whispered.

Kelly’s heart sank and she couldn’t keep the slight hint of disappointment out of her voice. “Oh.”

“Actually, it’s about Iris and Barry.” Again, she whispered the names. “But I’m at work and I don’t want anyone to eavesdrop, so I was hoping we could maybe meet at that place across from our building, Noonan’s or whatever it’s called, for coffee or lunch, if you’re free later.”

There was something about Alex and her rambling, and yes, lunch would be nice, so Kelly agreed. “Noonan’s at noon, you got it.” She rolled her eyes at herself for the lame pun. She was glad Alex couldn’t see her face.

Alex made a little snorting sound. “Okay, see you in a bit.”

***

Kelly got to Noonan’s five minutes ahead of time. She was led to a table by the window, where Alex already sat studying the menu.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” Alex beamed, and half got up from her chair and fidgeted with her hands as if unsure how to greet another human being and ended up giving Kelly a small wave and sat back down.

“I hope this is okay.”

“Um, sure. Even though I’m not quite sure what this is.”

“I’ll explain, but do you mind if I order some food first? I haven’t had breakfast and I’m starving.”

“Of course.”

Kelly ordered her usual, veggie burger with a side order of sweet potato fries and truffle veganaise, and Alex went with the breakfast burrito, since it was her first meal of the day.

When their orders arrived, Kelly watched in equal amounts fascination and disgust how Alex gobbled down half her food in mere minutes.

“This is so good.” Alex groaned.

“You weren’t kidding.” Kelly giggled, taking a bite of one of her fries. “Do you participate in those hot dog eating competitions? Because you should.”

Alex stopped midchew suddenly very self-aware, her pale cheeks blushing furiously. She put the rest of her burrito on the plate and took a sip of water.

“It’s really all Kara’s fault. If I’m not fast enough, she steals all my food. Siblings really are the worst.”

“Yeah, my brother Jimmy would always steal my food too, so I started eating only things he didn’t like or was allergic to.” Kelly grinned maliciously.

“HA! I should try that sometime.” Alex considered. “Wait, Jimmy? As in Jimmy Olsen? The photographer at the Daily Planet?”

“That’s the one.”

“Hmm, don’t ever tell her I said that, but Kara had a fat crush on him years ago. She interned at the Planet and they met, but she’s useless, so she never actually talked to him.” Alex rolled her eyes.

“Oh dear.”

“Yeah, it was embarrassing. She was embarrassing.” Alex shook her head and stuffed the last bite of her lunch into her mouth.

“So, um, talking about embarrassing, Iris and Barry.” Kelly brought up the reason of their date – no, a meeting, just a meeting, not a date.

“Right. So, I’ve known Barry since college and he’s been dating a few girls, but it never lasted and I thought he was closeted or something, but then we moved here and met Iris and I’ve never seen him look at anyone like this. It was like in one of those romcoms, and then it turns out they knew each other since forever basically. So, we thought they should maybe date.”

“We?”

“Yes, Kara, agrees.”

“That,” Kelly paused to gather her thoughts. One, there were so many red flags, but two, she kind of saw it too, not the highkey invasive meddling part, but they definitely made a cute team at game night and the way Iris talked about Barry, there was something there.

“Well, I gotta be honest, this is super weird. I don’t usually get involved in other people’s relationships…” Kelly trailed off.

“But?”

“But, yes, they were cute, and Iris isn’t seeing anyone at the moment, at least not that I know off, so--”

“So, you’ll help?”

“Help with what exactly?”

“Well, I don’t know. Like, nudging them into the right direction, arranging dates, but like where they don’t know it’s gonna be a date for them.”

“That sounds overly complicated. Why not just tell them to go out?”

“But where’s the fun in that?” Alex asked, reaching out to steal one of Kelly’s fries.

“Hey!”

“Sorry,” she pulled her hand back as if she got burned. Kelly grinned smugly.

“I don’t think Barry would ask Iris out, to be honest. The way he talked about her. He put her on this pedestal. He thinks she’s too good for him. And I don’t know Iris, but she’s probably not gonna let people tell her who to date.”

“True.” Kelly agreed.

“But if we could just make them see how perfect they’re for each other, then…” Alex trailed of.

“You and your sister watch way too many movies.”

“I know,” Alex sighed. “So, you in?”

No. no this was stupid, and inappropriate. Kelly respected Iris’ boundaries and choices. Plus, Iris would probably kill her if she found out she was part of this ridiculous stunt. Alex watched her closely, as if all her thoughts played out on her face. The longer Kelly waited to reply the more crestfallen Alex looked and then she had the audacity to pout. _That bitch._

“Okay.”

***

Over the next few weeks Alex and Kelly spent their free time texting, meeting up for morning runs, lunch breaks or at Alex’s new favorite hangout. Al’s Dive Bar had a great selection of whiskeys and international beers and was far enough away that none of their friends would go there, but not too far to walk home after a few drinks. Here they’d occasionally play a round of darts or pool and plot ways to give Iris and Barry chances to reconnect and get closer.

However, their first attempts failed miserably. If it weren’t for work emergencies or their friends interrupting, it was just plain bad luck with the weather ruining what could’ve been very romantic situations.

“We really need to step up our game.” Alex said, half leaning on her pool stick, raking her brain, trying to come up with a new plan, but the alcohol in her blood and the very distracting sight in front of her weren’t helping.

“Way ahead of you.” Kelly smirked as she sank two solid balls with a trick shot and gracefully moved around the table to take aim at the Eight ball. Alex sucked in a breath. That shot seemed impossible, the angle was never going to work. Kelly readjusted her grip, focused and nudged the cue ball with just the right force and spin for the perfect shot. Alex let out the breath she didn’t even realize she had been holding.

“Another round?” She asked with a slightly raspy voice.

“Not tired of losing yet?” Kelly winked.

“Pah, best out of five.” Alex jokingly challenged. She didn’t actually care about winning. With Kelly any time they spent together was already a win. And if Alex wanted to enjoy this for a bit longer, who could really blame her?

Kelly smiled and shook her head. She checked her watch. “This was fun, as always, but it’s pretty late and I have a busy day at work tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Alex chugged the last sips of her drink and grabbed her leather jacket and Kelly’s blazer from the chairs they had occupied near the pool table.

“Oh, no, you can stay, if you want.” Kelly said, nervously rubbing her forearm.

“I’m not gonna let you walk home in the dark alone. There’re a lot of creeps out there. Besides, we’re going in the same direction.”

“And they say chivalry is dead.” Kelly smiled.

***

They walked in silence for a bit. “So, where did you learn to play pool like that?” Alex asked quietly.

“It was basically the only past time activity we had at the base, playing pool or reading whatever books people had brought. Well, some played video games, but there was enough fighting going on around us, so that wasn’t for me.”

“Wait, you’re a soldier?” Alex stropped in her tracks.

“Was.” Kelly corrected. “It was a way to honor my dad’s memory, follow in his footsteps and also to pay for college, but yeah, I’m not really…” she trailed off.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to talked about it, if it brings up stuff.”

“Thank you.”

Alex felt the urge to comfort Kelly, usually she would go in for a tight hug, but she was unsure what would be acceptable. After all, she hardly knew Kelly. Instead she held out her hand and after a moment of hesitation, Kelly took it. At the touch, a soothing feeling spread through her entire body and she tried to send warmth and support back through this link they had formed.

They walked further, rounding the corner to their street and Kelly came to a sudden halt. Still focused on how their hands were tangled together, how nice and familiar it felt, Alex bumped into her.

“What the damn hell?” Kelly swore and Alex forced herself to look up from their hands and follow Kelly’s line of vision. There, in front of their apartment building, Iris and Barry were wrapped up in each other. Kissing.

“So that’s what’s running another round of tests in the lab looks like.” Alex grinned.

Kelly huffed incredulous. “I should’ve known something was up, when she talked about getting drinks with Caitlin. Like, in what world?”

“Who now?” Alex asked absentmindedly as she watched Iris grab the lapel of Barry’s jacket to pull him into the building.

“Not important.”

“I can’t believe they’re sneaking around on us. The audacity.”

Now it was Kelly’s turn to laugh. “I told you they just needed some time and for people to stay out of their business.”

“Fair enough, BUT…” Alex emphasized, “how do we know it wasn’t because we nudged them in the right direction.”

Kelly arched an eyebrow then looked up. After a few moments, the lights switched on in her and Iris’ apartment but not in Alex’s and Barry’s. “Fuck.”

“Well, you can crash at my place, I guess.” Alex winked at Kelly who cringed slightly.

“You sure?”

“Of course.”

***

Alex had offered to sleep on the couch and let her take the bed in her room. Kelly was cuddled up alone in the king size bed that just felt way too big for one person, wearing an over-sized t-shirt and pajama shorts Alex had lend her, praying that her hair would not be a complete mess in the morning. Not being able to follow her usual routine before going to bed made Kelly extremely anxious and she couldn’t sleep when she was anxious.

After over an hour of staring at the ceiling and studying every little detail of Alex’s room, the collection family photographs, a small desk with a laptop, a miserable looking cactus by the window, a bookshelf stacked mostly with large volumes on bio-engineering and neurology, but also a few sapphic romance novels. Kelly made a mental note to ask if she could borrow some of them without it making weird. The small room also had an ensuit bathroom and a large closet, that from as far as Kelly could tell was filled to the brim with leather jackets and flannel shirts. She’d never seen Alex wear anything that did not scream ‘raging lesbian’.

There was still no sleep in sight. She groaned and quietly got up. She walked on tiptoes, opened the door and headed for the kitchen island to get a glass of water. Alex perked up from the couch. Squinting at her.

“Kelly? You okay?” Alex whispered. Her voice was thick with sleep.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Kelly waved off the question.

Alex pulled herself up into a sitting position and pat the place next to her on the couch. Kelly walked over and plopped down on the couch. Alex draped the soft blanket over her legs.

“I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m just having some trouble falling asleep in someone else’s bed. Sorry.”

“Hm, no it’s fine. I couldn’t sleep either.” Kelly could tell it wasn’t true, but was glad that Alex didn’t seem too irritated. No, she actually moved a little closer to Kelly and it felt strangely domestic.

Fighting the overwhelming feeling of intimacy, Kelly tried to make conversation. “So how did you and Barry end up being roommates?”

“That weird, huh?” Alex joked.

“A little.”

“Well,” Alex yawned and then thought for a moment, before recounting how they had met in college working on a research project and became friends. How she was recruited by the FBI and worked in Metropolis for a few years. Alex got choked up when she got to the point of telling Kelly about a woman she had almost married, but then broke up with over whether or not they should eventually have kids.

“I still feel terrible.”

“You shouldn’t. You wanted different things. It happens. Neither of you would’ve been happy if you had compromised, and you deserve happiness.”

“Yeah.” Alex took a deep breath. “Well, anyway, after that I took a look at my life and I was tired of kicking down doors for the government and wanted to focus on science again, and around that time Barry was looking at leaving Star Labs and we both were approached by Lena Luthor to work in a research team she was setting up here in National City. It was a chance to permanently live closer to Kara again and work with a friend, so pretty easy decision.”

“Why not move in with Kara, though?”

“Yeah, hell no. My sister is my favorite person, but she’s a total slob, has no boundaries and a super messy love life, I rather not.”

Kelly snorted. “Yeah, okay. I get that.”

“Barry was also new in town, and he was looking for a place that wasn’t Cisco’s couch.”

They shared more stories about siblings and roommates and eventually they both drifted off to sleep.

***

Kelly woke up first the next day. She opened her eyes and scanned the room, illuminated by the morning sun. The blanket had fallen to the ground. In her sleep Alex had put an arm around her. Kelly could feel Alex’s breath on the back of her neck. She froze at the realization of how tight Alex held her, but with every even breath of the red head the tension eased from her. She had no idea what time it was, but hoped it was still early enough to stay like this a bit longer. And what if she missed the morning briefing. Not like Andrea listened to any of her concerns anyway. She closed her eyes again. She might’ve let out a content little moan, but who was there to hear---

“Ahem.” Someone cleared their throat.

Kelly jerked up in panic and turned around to the kitchen island, where Iris leaned sipping coffee.

“Rise and shine, love birds.”

“What, why,” Kelly took a deep breath to calm her racing hear and thoughts. “What are you doing here?”

“Barry said that you two finally got together and that I owed him 20 bucks, so I had to come and see for myself.”

“What’s going on?” Alex was awake now, too.

“Oh, Alex, don’t worry about being late. Barry told them you had a, um,” she looked at Kelly and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, “a doctor’s appointment.”

Alex looked around and blushed furiously when she realized where her hand was resting on Kelly’s thigh. She pulled it away and jumped up from the couch with incredibly speed and agility. “I gotta…get…” she rushed into her room.

They could hear when the water started running in the shower. Iris sauntered over and sat down in the chair next to the couch. She handed Kelly a cup of steaming coffee.

“Y’know, when I told you to have some fun with Alex, playing wing-woman for me and Barry wasn’t exactly what I meant.” Iris said with a mischievous grin on her face.

“We, no. Wait what? How did you know?”

“You weren’t exactly subtle. Plus, amazing journalistic instincts, remember?”

Kelly’s face warmed. She never felt so embarrassed. “I’m sorry, that was. I don’t know, I said we should just stay out of it, let you two figure stuff out on your own, and well, you did and I’m so incredibly happy for you, but Alex…”

Iris raised an eyebrow. “Exists and you’re too gay to tell her no?”

Kelly swallowed. “Yeah, maybe,” she said in a small apologetic voice, listening intensely if the shower was still running, she didn’t need Alex to hear any of that. How pathetic was it to fall for a woman so quickly? They had only just met.

Iris snapped her out of it when she got back up and moved towards the apartment door. “Well, I’m glad your shenanigans led to…“ she gestured to where Alex had been, “whatever that was.”

“No, we, we’re just, um, friends.”

“Yeah right.” Iris laughed. “Kel, we have been friends for over a decade, best friends even, and as far as I remember, we never spooned.” And with that she left before Kelly could even think of a reply.

She debated waiting for Alex, but she had to get ready herself and needed to sort out her feelings and what it all meant for her and Alex’s friendship.

***

Kelly spent much of her time at work studying reports and adjusting testing procedures. Every now and then random thoughts of Alex, crept into her mind and she struggled to focus on Andrea’s remarks during their meeting. Having been late to the office, she decided to work through her lunch break and now it wasn’t just a certain redhead distracting her, but also the grumbling in her stomach. She almost didn’t hear the knock on her office door.

“Come in.” She said without looking up.

“Hey.” Came a soft voice and Kelly’s heart skipped a beat. Alex walked in smiling and holding up a paper bag.

“I come bearing food.” Kelly could’ve jumped up and kiss her, but instead she just smiled back shyly. “Noonan’s veggie burger with a side order of sweet potato fries and truffle veganaise.” Alex said, smiling proudly at remembering her lunch order.

“You didn’t need to do that, Alex.”

Alex put down the food and sat down opposite Kelly. She had a nervous smile. “Here’s the thing, I had to.”

Kelly blinked.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you and I just had to see you again and I didn’t want to waste any more time.”

Kelly was stunned, unable to form words and Alex seemed to be getting nervous. “I’m sorry, if I’m coming on kinda strong. I just haven’t felt like this in a long time and I—”

“Ditto.” Kelly cut off Alex’s rambling, reaching across the desk to hold Alex’s hands and stop them from trembling.

“Do you maybe wanna go on a date? Like, an actual date and just talk about, um, us, and I don’t know.”

“I’d love that.”


End file.
